(On his evaluation of himself) "I did a good enough job for us to be 3-5. There are a lot of things that you look back and we made some changes that I think are going to help our football team. We did not make the changes just to make change. [We made changes] starting with the practice schedule and things that I have control of and just working hard to get that done and making sure the players understand why we are doing it and hopefully that stuff will be able to carry over on to the field because we are not obviously playing very well right now."
(On if he made any staff changes during the Bye Week) "No."
(On the primary motivation to the changes to the schedule) "Because we are not really playing well from a technique standpoint across the board – everyone. What I wanted to do was go ahead and change the walkthrough because walkthrough, a lot of time, I think our mindset can be better. In other words, walkthrough, a lot of people think of it as being an assignment. It's really alignment [and] technique assignment. I think that we have to do a better job there, so we increased that in the morning. Mostly all of our games will be at 1 p.m., so practicing at 1 p.m., this way our body clock gets right on that and we're able to go. Plus, I think for players nutrition wise, I think it is a little bit easier instead of having that big gap where you have to force yourself to have some meals in between. You can go ahead and get a good breakfast and good lunch and then we will practice at 1 p.m. so you can eat before and eat after. There are a lot of things that went into it, but all things are for a reason to help us get better. We changed some of the schedule of things that we are doing during practice, things that we are not doing well that we need to work on. I put that into the practice schedule. Just sticking with it. That is what we are going to do for the rest of the season. It's not change to change. It's change for a specific outcome of what we need done."
(On if the team has more walkthroughs than they used to have) "No, they are different. We did half inside and half outside. Now, they are going to be done inside and outside, as soon as we hit the field, we are practicing."
(On if he feels that one win could get this team going) "I told the team today, 'Hey, listen. Before we can talk about the quarter and winning the quarter, you have to win the first one.' I do think there is something to it. I just don't think it's right coming from me to say that. How do you get on a run? Well, you have to win. Don't worry about the run. Just get the win. You know what I'm saying?' I try to make sure I'm clear with the players on that, so they don't start looking ahead. You have to get the one first."
(On when Blake Bortles injured his shoulder) "He was injured on the play that they were flagged for – the personal foul play. Your eyes are just as good as mine. He took his normal throws today, he took all of his throws and you guys saw him out there throwing. It's early in the week and we will just see how it goes. Your evaluation on how he looks will be the same as mine. I just saw he took the normal throws during practice. When he was out there throwing, you guys were out there."
(On Leonard Fournette appearing to be a "full participant" and if it was good to see him out practicing) "It doesn't matter what they tell me – full, limited, anything. It's not going to matter to me for any of those guys. It's the same thing for me. They just have to go out there. The only reason why we say that [they are full or limited] is so this way, you don't get fined a lot of money. We will see when he gets out there. We will say something. You guys will be out there looking at it and we will just see when they get out there – all of those guys. [D.J.] Hayden was out there today. [Tyler] Patmon was out there. I think the only guys that aren't out there were [A.J.] Bouye, Quenton Meeks and [Lerentee] McCray who will probably be out there on Wednesday."
(On how severe A.J. Bouye's calf injury is) "You should probably ask him when you are in [the locker room]. I don't know. Everyone is so different. I really don't know. I would think that the longer he doesn't practice…obviously or he'd be out there during the week. I have always said, 'Everybody wants to play.' That's what they say. We have to push them, do a good job with them and see if they are able to play. If they are not, we back off and they are not practicing."
(On if he thinks the game against the Steelers could be moved to 1 p.m.) "Yes, I think it will be flexed."
(On if the Jaguars are worthy of playing in front of a national audience right now) "No."
(On his primary focus during the Bye Week) "Being honest with myself was the most important thing. The team is 3-5. What I want to do is I want to make sure that I get everything right, build it right, get the coaches right, go out there and I don't have to f'ing stand up here and say, 'Hey, it's my fault.' I'm responsible for it. I have to do a good job, and I want to make sure that I am doing everything I can to give everyone else an opportunity to do well. If I don't do that, we will all fail and that's it."
(On if there was anything that surprised him when he evaluated the team on film over the Bye Week) "No. We won three games. We were playing well fundamentally, excited and all of that stuff. We lost five games, the last four. It was shitty. Real shitty."
(On if October was as bad a month as he has had in his coaching career) "Unfortunately, no."
(On if the coaching staff trusts the offensive line and how to regain that trust) "Let's make sure we are clear. If you don't run the ball well, you don't finish your blocks and it's third-and-1 and you lose yardage, it's very difficult to call a [run] play again. If I call the same play and we get our ass kicked, what do I do? I don't feel good about it. Schematically, it feels good. But you don't win. So, what do you do? You could run another play, another run play. But then you are going to say, 'Hey, listen. You ran two run plays in a row and got your ass kicked. Why don't you throw it?' It is that thing that goes back to it. Trust is earned, it's not given. At the end of the day, I'm going to do everything I can to get the players to trust that what I'm doing is right. At the end of the day if they understand that when they do things well, there is a trust and you can call a play again. I don't think it's a matter of this whole big thing. It was a moment. And at that moment, I didn't feel comfortable with it. I really didn't."
(On if Andrew Luck looks like he is getting back to form) "He looks good to me. Looks good to me. He's really come a long way. Credit to him. That's a long time to be out and to come back and he is playing well, playing better each week and looks … I don't want to be able to speak for him to where he's back to … He looks really good, though."
(On how impressive Quenton Nelson is) "He is a good football player. He was a good football player coming out. He was one of the best offensive linemen coming out in a while. Harry Hiestand, who is the offensive line coach there [at Notre Dame] has done a good job. He pumped a couple of those guys out – Zach Martin and the tackle that is playing for Baltimore [Ronnie Stanley]. He has done a nice job of getting some players out of there and doing well. I think Quenton is just the same type of guy.
Obviously, it's a tough day for people here that know Vince Manuwai passed away. It always reminds me of a story. I liked him on film. I was with [the] New York [Jets] at the time, and I had to go work him out. Those guys are a little bit different, you know. I could only be lucky enough that they would fly me to Hawaii to work him out. Well, that's not how that deal works. I used to say to the scouts, 'Hawaii has some players, man.' (laughter) But, anyway, when the University of Hawaii guys work out, they come to the West Coast and we work them out in California. I'll never forget I'm working all of those guys out – and they had about two or three good linemen that year. They had a tackle, he [Manuwai] was coming out. Back in my younger days, I'd get in those drills and hold the bags. Vince, he knocked me right on my ass. That shit went viral. All the line coaches that at the time were my friends – now a lot of them aren't in the league- they are like, 'Oh my gosh, I can't believe it.' I'm like, 'That guy is strong!' I always watched him because I liked him. Scouts may say he's a little bit short, he had a little bit of short arms, but he was a tough son of a gun and strong and powerful. It's a shame whenever you see people lose their lives at such a young age no matter who they are. Especially when they have a family. I think I read somewhere he had six children. My thoughts and prayers are with him. I just wanted to tell you the connection that I have. That is about it. Obviously, I do not know him personally, but he is linked to me for knocking me on my ass."
(On if he sees a bigger role for Taven Bryan with Dante Fowler Jr. being traded to the Rams) "I think we have to look at where all of those guys are and try to get the most production out of them. A lot of the stuff we are looking at, I think we are going to have to show it player wise during the week, like where we want to put those guys. Trust is earned, and I believe playing time is earned. I think we have to look to see where those guys are and figure out what the best combination is because obviously it's not working that well right now."
(On what his evaluation of Taven Bryan has been) "Like everybody else, right now, we are just not playing good football. I don't want to get into a thing where you sit up here and it's like, 'How about this guy? How about that guy?' The evaluation is simple: 3-5. That is what you are playing like, that is what you are doing, that is what you are coaching them like and that is what we are. That's it. You played three games and some guys played really well. Some guys didn't play well in those wins. Then, you lose five games. It's the same thing. Not as many guys played well, but a lot of guys didn't play as well."
(On if Leonard Fournette will take on a workhorse role when he comes back) "I don't know if he is going to play."
(On if the thought process is that when Fournette comes back, he will take on a workhorse role) "It's the same thing if I sit here and say, 'Well if this happens …' It's hard for me to do that. I'm not trying to be an ass, I'm just trying to say, 'This is what I'm thinking about at this moment.' Moment to moment to moment to what do we have to do. Then, we will just see how it goes during the week. How things happen during the week is really what answers a lot of those questions. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you are worried about this guy – is he going to be able to play? Is he going to play the full amount? Did we get the other guys ready enough? What plays does he feel comfortable with? What plays do other people feel comfortable with? You go back and forth because at the end of the day, your job is to try and put the team in the best situation to win. Sometimes I feel like I've done a good job of that, but sometimes I haven't. I want to make sure I'm doing everything I possibly can so they go out there and if they execute, they will get it. If they don't, then we don't. But it's not going to be from a lack of hard work, at least from my part. I'm going to make sure the coaches do it."
(On if there may be a change at quarterback that isn't injury related) "I don't know. Again, that is looking into the future. Obviously, I sit here and I say to myself, I hope not. Quarterback, you don't make a change there if he's playing well. It's a tough position to evaluate. Like I said all the time, very easy to point fingers. Sometimes it is well deserved, sometimes there is a lot of stuff going around that has got to get a whole lot better. I think it's a lot easier to evaluate a situation when everything around it is going well and based on that performance, you can say whether that player is doing well or not. Quarterback position … That is really any position. I always say one time I had an offensive tackle, we had this really good offensive guard we developed and they would say, 'Man, that right tackle got better.' I don't know. Same right tackle it was the year before in my mind. He has that killer player next to him at right guard. I mean that. I think it's something that when you look and you break down, you know it's difficult. You don't spend as much time trying to find the answers of why someone is playing well. I think you've got to be aggressive with that as well as being aggressive with them not playing well and trying to figure that out."
(On if made any philosophical changes over the Bye Week) "Yes, I think the schedule change and everything will put an emphasis on some change from that area due to the way it is. Everything is still going to be game-planning, it's not like we are leaving anything out, but I think what's going to happen is it's going to be a little bit longer, a little bit more time, a little bit more reps on certain situations."
(On if Ereck Flowers has done enough in practice to compete for the starting left tackle position) "We will see. We're trying to work those guys in and see what we have. I think that Josh [Walker], I was looking at Josh as more of an inside player. Then we started running out of bodies and we threw him out there. I thought for the position of a guy that hasn't played left tackle and going out there, I appreciate that I know he is giving us everything he has. Is it good enough at the end of the day or not? Sometimes it is, sometimes it is not. But the one thing I do know you get all the time is that you get that effort and I know as a coach, that is what I appreciate. Even at times when it might not be good enough, I appreciate him going out there and doing the best he can. I like him inside, we are working some other guys in case we get some other injuries at tackle and making sure we stay in the inside, too. We are trying to make sure we are backed up, so we don't have one of those things where someone gets injured and we [don't] have a backup. Obviously if we get a tackle hurt, who's the next guy up? It's either going to be … We only have three right now, and we are trying to get some other guys ready."
(On if he can say that all his players always give him complete and full effort) "Even with Josh [Walker], if you want to be real critical … Are you talking about that? I like his effort. I like his effort. Same thing, like I tell the players, 'Our good players should be playing well.' The players that aren't, we have to coach them and get them better and put them in position to be good enough to play."